NCAC 2024

[NeOhLaxFan]

Looks like a decent weekend for the NCAC teams as they went 5-2 highlighted by Denison’s 14-11 win over Albion. Surprised by Kenyon’s narrow escape against Capital. DePauw had a nice win over Kalamazoo 8-5, as did Wooster with their 18-7 throttle over St. Vincent.

OWU struggled at Christopher Newport, which wasn’t too overly surprising. And lastly Hiram lost badly to a PAC bottom feeder Franciscan 22-11

[berryjames]

Looks like a decent weekend for the NCAC teams as they went 5-2 highlighted by Denison’s 14-11 win over Albion. Surprised by Kenyon’s narrow escape against Capital. DePauw had a nice win over Kalamazoo 8-5, as did Wooster with their 18-7 throttle over St. Vincent.

OWU struggled at Christopher Newport, which wasn’t too overly surprising. And lastly Hiram lost badly to a PAC bottom feeder Franciscan 22-11

I kinda disagree with you. I think it was overall a down week for the NCAC.

Kenyon barely beats a not-great capital team
Oberlin did not look great against a bottom-of-the-barrel MIAA team
Denison had a 9-goal second quarter but not a good second half against an Albion team who they beat by 8 last year. (After Albion lost their best player in program history last year)
Wooster looks great by killing Saint Vincent
OWU keeps it kind of close with CNU, but CNU did play a game the day before
Hiram's loss looks bad.
Depauw got their first win of the season over KZOO which is decent, but KZOO is not a great team anyway.

Overall through the first 2 weeks of the season, the NCAC looks much closer overall, with no one team dominating the rest of the conference.

[Laxgopher69]

I agree berryjames, but at the end of the day I think at this juncture of the season wins are wins.

Certainly sloppy lacrosse by multiple NCAC squads this weekend. That being said, I think when all is said and done the cream will rise as it typically does. Considering there hasn't been any in-conference play, it certainly checks out that no one team is dominating anyone else in the conference thus far.

[BallHunt]

What is the NCAC crowd thinking about the Kenyon-Albion matchup? Albion seemed to keep their game with Denison interesting.

[Ncacjunkie77]

Kenyon 16-6 over Albion, up 10-0 at one point. The usual suspects showed up for Kenyon. Nelson 18-21 at the X. Chintala continues to score at will. Defense starting to look comfortable, “brick wall” Adam Hall with 14 saves in the cage. Centre this week, then Dickinson and F&M on the horizon for the fighting owls.

[berryjames]

Better overall performance from the NCAC this week.

Kenyon killed Albion
Oberlin loses in OT to Hope
Wabash killed Alma
(NCAC went 2-1 vs MIAA)
Wooster dominates Westminster
Denison killed BW... seems like an important for for the Big Red to get back on track this season after a scare versus Albion.
Hiram win a game bvy 26???? Is this a record number of goals for the Terriers

[oldtimelax]

Some interesting games in the the NCAC this weekend....

Saturday:

Transylvania @ Ohio Wesleyan. Bishops are 0-2 and need to get their mojo working. They need to roll in this one, since Transy got smoked by rival Kenyon just two weeks ago.

Wooster @ John Carroll. Wooster started off last season with 10 wins and then faded in the conference against the better teams. They are 3-0 again, and knocking off JCU in their season home opener would be a sign that these Scotties are 'for real'....

Wittenberg @ Saint Vincent College. Witt has to win this one, after Wooster beat SVC 18-7 last weekend.

Centre @ Kenyon. Solid out-of-conference test before undefeated Fighting Owls depart on spring trip to play #5 Dickinson and F&M.

Adrian @ Oberlin. Yeo-Adrian!....Yeomen need a win after tough OT loss to Hope.

Sunday:

Denison @ Washington and Lee. Always a great early season test for both teams, which are almost mirror images of each other. Coach Koch faces his mentor again...

[oldtimelax]

Mixed week for the top of the NCAC (4 wins and 2 losses)....

+ Kenyon 17, Centre 12 - Owls looking good as the they head east to play #5 Dickinson and F&M....a split might get them ranked....
+ John Carroll 13, Wooster 8 - Blue Streaks break game open in 2nd half and cruise to a win. Scots have some Tough OOC games coming up including
Ithaca and Cabrini.
+ Wittenberg 13, St. Vincent 8 - Tigers pull away in 2nd half in their opener. Have two more cupcakes and a date with Emmanuel (in Baltimore) before
the NCAC schedule begins.
+ Oberlin 16, Adrian 8 - Nice win for a young team. Probably a year away from competing in the top half of the conference.
+ OWU 13, Transylvania 6 - Bishops get the W and get their offense going. Have a date with SVC before facing two tough ones -- John Carroll and
Hampden-Sydney.
+ #13 W&L 13, Denison 11 - Big Red fade in the 4Q in a very close encounter. The next two are higher-ranked, so Denison needs to turn the page
quickly.

[oldtimelax]

Watching the Kenyon-Dickinson game, I was thrilled to see how the Owls came out and were the better team on both ends of the field, leading 7-5 at the half. Out of halftime, the Red Devils took over the game, scoring off Kenyon turnovers, while winning the ground ball and faceoff battles. Through the third quarter and into late in the fourth, Dickinson scored seven straight goals and held Kenyon scoreless. In the final five minutes, each team traded goals, but the damage was done.

Misarti and his staff should spend some serious time looking at the film and see what adjustments were made to change the game so drastically. A solid win over F&M could keep them in the Top 20. A promising season got a bucket of cold water thrown on it, but now is the time to learn and adapt.

[berryjames]

Overall not a terrible Tuesday / Wednesday for the NCAC
Wabash beat Husson 21- 8...

Wittenberg beat Chatham 14-9, which is a similar score to the score Oberlin won this game a couple of weeks ago.

Hiram went 1-1 the last 2 days and is 4-2 on the season which is impressive for them.

#20 Kenyon fell to #5 Dickinson 13-8 and only scored one goal in the second half but were winning going into halftime. Should give them a lot of confidence before they play F&M this weekend. I will take the Owls in that one.

DePauw killed Anderson...18-4 Not much to say about this one. Did not watch it, but it was still a good win.

OWU gets revenge from last year and kills Saint Vincent 14-3. After a good year last year, SVC has been bested by every NCAC team they have played so far, with a total goal difference of (-27) in the three games combined.

Wooster doubled up on Capitol 18-9, a team that Kenyon struggled with earlier this season, so maybe signs that Wooster has a real shot to challenge for the title this year.

[oldtimelax]

I saw Hiram beat Mt. St. Joseph 29-3. I watched a couple of minutes because I couldn't believe that score. MSJ had NO reserve players at all....all 10 men were on the field and played the whole game. The Hiram coach has managed to mine the dregs of D3 and give his team a 4-2 record so far, but April is coming soon and his squad will once again drop every conference game by a 15-25 goal margin....

[NeOhLaxFan]

I saw Hiram beat Mt. St. Joseph 29-3. I watched a couple of minutes because I couldn't believe that score. MSJ had NO reserve players at all....all 10 men were on the field and played the whole game. The Hiram coach has managed to mine the dregs of D3 and give his team a 4-2 record so far, but April is coming soon and his squad will once again drop every conference game by a 15-25 goal margin....

They’ve never had any success so whatever they can get is positive. With JCU coming into the NCAC might be a good time for Hiram athletics switch to a more realistic conference like the PAC where they could be better suited with like competition. Although the school has bigger problems like keeping their doors open for the next several years

[FannOLax]

I saw Hiram beat Mt. St. Joseph 29-3. I watched a couple of minutes because I couldn't believe that score. MSJ had NO reserve players at all....all 10 men were on the field and played the whole game. The Hiram coach has managed to mine the dregs of D3 and give his team a 4-2 record so far, but April is coming soon and his squad will once again drop every conference game by a 15-25 goal margin....

Hiram has 19 folks on its roster, inluding a young lady (Hiram doesn't have a women's lax team). Somehow, every year they find weaker D3 lax programs to pad their schedule.

Anyway, the NCAC could certainly use a signature OOC win, which looks like it might fall to Denison who gets three bites at the cherry: at Lynchburg and Gettysburg, and in little Gville against York.

[ohiolax]

I saw Hiram beat Mt. St. Joseph 29-3. I watched a couple of minutes because I couldn't believe that score. MSJ had NO reserve players at all....all 10 men were on the field and played the whole game. The Hiram coach has managed to mine the dregs of D3 and give his team a 4-2 record so far, but April is coming soon and his squad will once again drop every conference game by a 15-25 goal margin....

I would be surprised if Hiram loses to Wabash and Depauw by 15-25 this year.

[NeOhLaxFan]

I saw Hiram beat Mt. St. Joseph 29-3. I watched a couple of minutes because I couldn't believe that score. MSJ had NO reserve players at all....all 10 men were on the field and played the whole game. The Hiram coach has managed to mine the dregs of D3 and give his team a 4-2 record so far, but April is coming soon and his squad will once again drop every conference game by a 15-25 goal margin....

I would be surprised if Hiram loses to Wabash and Depauw by 15-25 this year.

They lost to Franciscan by 11

[ohiolax]

I saw Hiram beat Mt. St. Joseph 29-3. I watched a couple of minutes because I couldn't believe that score. MSJ had NO reserve players at all....all 10 men were on the field and played the whole game. The Hiram coach has managed to mine the dregs of D3 and give his team a 4-2 record so far, but April is coming soon and his squad will once again drop every conference game by a 15-25 goal margin....

I would be surprised if Hiram loses to Wabash and Depauw by 15-25 this year.

They lost to Franciscan by 11

Look at the stats-it seems like the game looked further apart on scoreboard than it actually was -Franciscan had more TOs and only 4 more shots-Hiram goalie must of had bad day. Look at Wabash out of conference, pretty weak itself as well, I think Hiram will give them better game this year.

[ohiolax]

Wabash lost to Muskingum by 5 and teams that Wabash beat such as Earlham, Anderson, and Husson. Hiram can all beat. I think 15-25 point win against Hiram would be a good win for Wabash this year. I don’t think Hiram are the favorites but I think it’ll be closer.

[oldtimelax]

Denison dips below .500 and exits the Top 20 rankings, after losing by nine goals to Lynchburg and their All-American goalie. The next four aren't easy, Gettysburg, John Carroll, Kenyon and York. Not a place the Big Red is used to being in. Hopefully, this gauntlet will pay off in the end and make their players ready for a run in the tournament. It might be hard to see that right now.

Kenyon loses two tough ones to #5 Dickinson and F&M, but stands at 5-2 and is hovering around the Top 20. They are lickiing their chops to play Denison in twelve days, but have a tough match with Grove City first.

OWU scored a tough road win against John Carroll on Saturday, but have another with Hampden-Sydney this coming weekend. After that, it's the back end of the NCAC until they play Kenyon in mid-April.

The surprise team in the NCAC so far is Wooster, who is 5-1 (only loss was to John Carroll) and is averaging nearly16 goals a game. The next two will be the measuring stick about how good they really are -- Ithaca and Cabrini. They don't play OWU, Denison and Kenyon until the end of April, so they have some time to get things right.

[MVPiccoli]

Unclear if there are any Wooster alums on this thread. If so, I just wanted to express our appreciation for keeping Cabrini on your schedule this season, and for including us on your trip out east. In 2004, our programs clashed for the first time out in OH. I was on the field. The stark contrast to the poor sportsmanship we experienced/observed against OWU just two days before gave me an appreciation for your program that has lasted 20 years. Best of luck on Saturday against our Cavs and in the seasons to come!

[WhiteCarrera]

We all follow certain programs more closely than others, so here's my question for all of you. Of the teams that you have an opinion on, how does this year's team compare to last year's? I'll start: I think '24 Wabash is 8-10 goals better than '23 Wabash.